Clothes hanger



J. O. HOLT CLOTHES HANGER April 22, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 9, 1956 'FIEL s m m m m lrfokusys April 22, 1958 Filed Aug. 9, 1956 J. o. HOLT CLOTHES HANGER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Jbse-Pfl 0. H0 7 wz 6AM lrrpkusrs Unite States Patent CLOTHES HANGER Joseph 0. Holt, St. Louis Park, Minn.

Application August 9, 1956, Serial No. 603,050

6 Claims. (Cl. 223-95) The invention herein has relation to a clothes hanger which has been devised to be especially useful for the purpose of supporting trousers and skirts.

The object of the invention is to provide a device for the purpose as stated which will be of novel and improved construction.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a clothes hanger made according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view, taken on line 22 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view, taken as on line 3-3 in I Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view, taken on line 4-4 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view, taken on line 5-5 in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view, taken as on line 6-6 in Fig. 5.

A body of the clothes hanger is composed as an elongated flat bar 10 of rigid material, desirably metal, of uniform width and thickness, and gripping units, each denoted 11, of said clothes hanger are mounted upon each of the opposite end portions of said elongated flat bar for sliding movement toward and away from each other.

The gripping units 11 are of duplicate construction and each includes a pair of slide elements, each represented 12, which also are duplicates except that one is right and the other is left.

Each slide element 12 is constituted as a desirably fiat piece of rigid material bent or shaped to provide a vertical plate 13, an elongated base 14, of uniform width and thickness, at an upper edge of and in perpendicular relation to said vertical plate, and a finger piece 15 at an edge of the elongated base opposite the vertical plate and in perpendicular relation to said elongated base. An aperture in each finger piece 15 is indicated 16.

The vertical plate 13 and the finger piece 15 of each slide element 12 extend downwardly and upwardly, respectively, from the elongated base 14 when the slide element is assembled with the elongated flat bar It). Also, when the slide element 12 of each gripping unit 11 and said elongated flat bar are assembled, the elongated bases 14 of said slide elements rest upon the upper surface of the elongated flat bar, interior surfaces of the finger pieces 15 of the slide elements are engaged, upper, interior end surfaces of the vertical plates 13, at their locations of jointure with the side edges of the elongated bases 14 of the slide elements, are engaged against opposite side edges, respectively, of the elongated flat bar, and the apertures 16 of the gripping unit are alined transversely of said elongated fiat bar.

The interior surface of the vertical plate 13 of each slide element 12 supports a first interiorly extending lug 17 situated at the inner end of the corresponding vertical plate and a second interiorly extending lug 18 situated intermediate the ends of said corresponding vertical 2,831,621 Patented Apr. 22, 1958 portion of the elongated flat bar 10; An interior end of an upper surface of each of the interiorly extending lugs 18 integrally supports an upwardly extending protuberance 20. When the slide elements 12 of each gripping unit 11 are assembled with the elongated flatbar 10, the protuberances 20 upon the lugs 18 of the slide elements of each gripping unit ride in an elongated slot 21 in the corresponding end portion of said elongated fiat bar, as will be clear from the disclosure of Fig. 3 of the drawings, thus to assist in insuring that the slide elements will not become removed from the elongated flat bar. Opposite edge portions of said elongated flat bar desirably are curved upwardly in transverse direction, as in said Fig. 3, better to insure that the vertical plates of each gripping unit will lie in parallel relation to each other and in perpendicular relation to the elongated flat bar when the slide elements are assembled with said elongated flat bar.

A cross piece 22 of each gripping unit 11 secures inner ends of the vertical plates 13 of the slide elements of the gripping unit to each other for limited relative longitudinal sliding movement, as well as assists in retaining the slide elements upon the elongated fiat bar. Inner ends of the slide elements of each gripping unit are slotted to provide anchoring pins 23 in alined relation and in slightly spaced, parallel relation to the elongated flat bar 10 when the gripping units are assembled with said elongated flat bar, and the cross piece 22 of each gripping unit is provided with hooks 24, at each of its opposite ends, for pivotal assembly with the anchoring pins 23 of the corresponding gripping unit, as best disclosed in Fig. 4.

The opposite ends of the elongated flat bar 10 integrally support downwardly extending ears, each denoted 25, and each of the gripping units 11 includes a tension coil spring 26 having its outer end attached, as at 27, to the downwardly extending ear 25 at the corresponding end of said elongated flat bar and its inner end pivotally attached, as at 28, to the longitudinal center of the cross pin 22 of the corresponding gripping unit.

The tension coil springs 26 normally resiliently urge the slide elements of the gripping units outwardly to position where the interiorly extending lugs 18 of each gripping unit are engaged against the inner surface of the downwardly extending car 25 at the same end of the elongated flat bar. Stated differently, engagement of the interiorly extending lugs 18 with the downwardly extending ears 25 limits the extent to which the slide elements of the gripping units can be slid longitudinally outwardly of the elongated fiat bar by reason of force exerted by the tension coil springs 26.

Each of the vertical plates 13 includes substantially vertically disposed, notched gripping surfaces 29.

A shank 30 of a supporting hook for the clothes hanger is slidably disposed in a centrally situated opening 31 in the elongated fiat bar 10, and a knob 32 on the lower end of the shank 30 precludes removal of the supporting hook from the clothes hanger. When the clothes hanger is out of use, the shank 30 can be pushed downwardly to situate the supporting book as in Fig. 6 of the drawing. When the clothes hanger is in use, the supporting hool; can be retained in up position by a clip slidable on the elongated fiat bar and including a lower length 33 for supporting the knob 32 and an upper length with slot 34 for removably receiving the shank 30.

The manner in which the clothes hanger is to find use will be apparent. When garments, such as trousers, skirts, etc., are to be supported, the finger pieces 15 will be manually urged toward each other, thus to move the slide elements 12 and the vertical plates 13 thereof toward each other, against force of the tension coil springs 26, and the finger pieces will be released when the vertical plates are within the garments, or folds thereof. Upon release of the finger pieces, the tension coil springs will react to forcibly move the slide elements and their vertical plates apart thus to cause notched surfaces of vertical plates within a garment to engage internal surfaces thereof under resilient pressure exerted by the tension coil springs. Garments will be releasable from the clothes hanger merely by accomplishment of manual movement of the finger pieces toward each other.

What is claimed is:

1. In a clothes hanger, an elongated fiat bar and a gripping unit mounted upon an end portion of said elongated flat bar for inward and outward sliding movement constituted as a pair of slide elements one right and one left each including an elongated base upon an upper surface of said elongated flat bar, a vertical plate extending downwardly from an exterior side edge and a finger piece extending upwardly from an interior side edge of said elongated base, means securing said slide elements to each other for relative movement longitudinally of the elongated flat bar, a vertical gripping surface upon each of said vertical plates, and means resiliently urging the slide elements outwardly of said elongated fiat bar.

2. The combination as specified in claim 1 wherein the vertical plates of said slide elements are in parallel relation and the finger pieces of the slide elements are engaged.

3. In a clothes hanger, an elongated flat bar and a gripping unit mounted upon an end portion of said elongated flat bar for inward and outward sliding movement constituted as a pair of slide elements one right and one left each including an elongated base rested upon an upper surface of said elongated flat bar, a vertical plate extending downwardly from an exterior side edge and a finger piece extending upwardly from an interior side edge of said elongated base, means securing said slide elements to each other for relative movement longitudinally of the elongated flat bar, a gripping surface upon each of said vertical plates, means resiliently urging the slide elements outwardly of said elongated flat bar, and a stop for limiting the extent of outward movement of said slide elements.

4. The combination as specified in claim 1 wherein the means securing the slide elements to each other is constituted as a cross piece between and having its opposite ends pivotally attached to the vertical plates of said slide elements.

5. The combination as specified in claim 1 wherein the means securing the slide elements to each other is constituted as a cross piece between and having its opposite ends pivotally attached to the vertical plates of said slide elements, and the means resiliently urging the slide elements outwardly is constituted as a tension coil spring having one end thereof pivotally attached to said cross piece at a location between said vertical plates and an opposite end thereof secured to a portion of said elongated flat bar at a location disposed outwardly of the cross piece.

6. In a clothes hanger, an elongated flat bar constituting a body of said clothes hanger, a supporting hook in cluding a shank slidably disposed in an opening through said elongated flat bar and a knob upon a lower end of said shank, and a clip slidable along the elongated flat bar including a lower length for supporting said knob and an upper length with slot for removably receiving said shank.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,329,877 Barclay Feb. 3, 1920 1,697,719 Daigle Jan. 1, 1929 1,880,900 Dreyfuss Oct. 4, 1932 2,423,961 'Bnxton July 15, 1947 2,623,667 Salaman Dec. 30, 1952 2,712,891 Mantell July 12, 1955 

